Simba, Meet Kimba and Zimba, Before there was Simba, there was Kimba!

Kimba, the White Lion was one of the most popular TV cartoons
of the late 1960s. The show came from Japan, where it began as
a famous 1950s children's comic-art novel, Jungulu Taitei [King
of the Jungle] by Osamu Tesuka, who was already popular for his
Astro Boy character.

The TV Kimba is a simplification of the novel. Big-game hunters
kill the, mighty Caesar, the king of the jungle, and capture his
queen, Snowene. Kimba Is born on the boat that brings his mother
to a zoo in Europe, but he escapes, and he returns to the African
veld. Caesar's old friends, led by wise old Dan'l Baboon, Bucky
Deer and Pauley Cracker the parrot, try to help Kimba realize
his place as the young Prince. but Kimba wants to be more than
a strong fighter like father. He is impressed by human civilization
and he wants to create a similar animal civilization where beasts
will not have to prey on each other. This stirs the opposition
of many animals. Even the friendlier carnivores point out that
he is basically asking them to starve to death.

Despite the serious tone of the story, the 5 episodes that were
syndicated in America in 1966 were kept light and humorous, and
were designed to be seen in random sequence. But the Japanese
public familiar with the cartoon-art classic had some awareness
of the chronology of the TV episodes. Kimba begins as a babyish
cub, acknowledged as the Prince but considered an impractical
dreamer by all but his closest friends. Gradually, he accomplishes
his goals (including finding a "Meat substitute" for
the carnivores) and convinces the other animals of the value of
his "civilization." By the last episodes, he is a husky
teenager and his peaceful animal kingdom is solidly established.

Kimba was a Japanese cartoon, but the name is American. in the
original Japanese, Jungulu Taitei, he's Leo the Lion. NBC, which
bought the American rights, considered this moniker too unimaginative.
They instructed producer Fred Ladd to change the hero's name to
something more original. Ladd's team of writers and dubbers, led
by Cliff Owens and Billie Lou Watt., took the Swahili word for
lion, simba, and changed the initial letter to create Kimba-a
unique name.

But before there was Kimba, there was Zimba!

In the late 1940s English film mogul J. Arthur Rank wanted to
create a British cartoon studio to rival Disney's . He hired David
Hand, Disney's own director of Snow White and Bambi, to put together
this studio. Hand tried to start a series named Animaland in 1948.
Its main star was a red squirrel named Ginger Nutt, but the first
Animaland cartoon featured a humorous "nature study"
of the African lion. This lion only appeared in two of the nine
cartoons, where he was called Zimmy Lion. But according to studio
notes for future cartoons, which were partially published in the
single children's picture book that came out before the studio
ran out of money and -closed down in 1950, Zimmy was a nickname
for Zimba. Was this also derived from simba?' It seems too close
to be just a coincidence!